up she was afraid
that Col Elmore was going to send her back to Alabama; so she went and
hid in the woods. Pa took food to her. In about a month Col. Elmore
asked where she was, and pa just looked sheepish and grinned. Col.
Elmore told pa to go and bring her back, for he said he was tired of
having his rations carried to the woods; so ma came home. She had stayed
off three months. She never felt well anymore, and she died in about
three more months. Pa and Jenny kept us till we got big and went off to
ourselves.

"Jenny was born and raised in South Carolina, and she was good to
everybody and never fought and went on like ma did. Ma liked her and
would not let anybody say anything against her. She was good to pa till
he died, a real old man. Jenny never had any children. She was not old
when she died, but just a settled woman. We felt worse over her death
than we did over ma's, because she was so good to us and had cared for
us while ma and pa were in Alabama; then she was good to us after Dorcas
died and when she hid in the woods.

"It seems that folks are too tender now. They can't stand much. My ma
could stand more than I can. My children can't stand what I can right
now."

=Source:= Emanuel Elmore (77). Sycamore St., Gaffney, S.C.
Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. 11/16/37

Code No.
Project, 1885-(1)
Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis
Place, Marion, S.C.
Date, December 16, 1937

MOM RYER EMMANUEL
EX-SLAVE, AGE 78

"Oh, my Lord, child, I ain' know nothin bout slavery time no more den we
was just little kids livin dere on de white people plantation. I was
just a little yearlin child den, I say. Been bout six years old in
slavery time. Well, I'll say dat I bout 80 some odds, but I can' never
seem to get dem odds together. I was a big little girl stayin in old
Massa yard in dem days, but I wasn' big enough to do nothin in de house
no time. My old Massa been Anthony Ross en he had set my age down in de
Bible, but my old Missus, she dead en I know dem chillun wouldn' never
know whe' to say dat Bible at dese days. Old Miss, she been name Matt
Ross. I wish somebody could call up how long de slaves been freed cause
den dey could call up my age fast as I could bat my eyes. Say, when de
emancipation was, I been six years old, so my mammy tell me. Don' know
what to say dat is, but I reckon it been since freedom."

"I been born en bred right over yonder to dat big patch of oak trees